09 June, 2006

No, this light did not fall out of a Daniel Rebour drawing. The flashlight is made, even today, in a corner of Europe. And the mount is made in the Velo Orange shop.

Of course this is just the first prototype. The finger knobs are too big and the steel needs to be thinner, but you get the idea.

It's been suggested that I not bother making the light easily removable, but rather make a mount that's semi-permanently affixed to the light. That would makeit lighter and simpler. And that's the way Herse did it. What do you think?

Estimated cost for the combination: $27. It'll be available in two sizes. Anybody like it? Think it's silly?

love the idea of the flashlight mounts...and the flashlights, too. I wonder if there would be any Asian source that would be interested in "building" a dedicated rechargeable flashlight specifically with bicyclists in mind?

I commute year round and use a Marwi BULLite - a self-contained handlebar mounted headlight. NOT cheap, was around $70. But it's great for commuting because you can just pop it off without also dragging a tangle of coiled wires and separate battery pack.

It came with a feeble 6w sealed halogen lamp (like you'd find on a bottle caged powered system) but I changed the bulb out to a 15w narrow beam - which is minimal for real road lighting, but adequate.

Burn time with the NiMH 6v battery inside is reduced from 2hrs to 45 min. but it re-charges in only 4- 5hrs. Size of this 1-piece lamp is about the size of a core from a toilet paper roll. and weight is 370gms.

I think with a larger RH / retro style flashlight shell, one could build in a 12volt NIMH stack which could power a R-16 12v, NiteRider type lamp of perhaps 20w-25w with a possible burn time of 1 to 1.5 hrs. And you'd have the ease of just pulling it off and plugging it in to fast-charge.

~ Just a thought...

I do Love the rack mount concept... Thought I'd have to petition Nitto or TOEI myself to find something like that.

Alan, It uses a 3.8 volt screw-in base bulb. My original intention was to try an LED conversion, but the availability of these lights is limited; I can only get a few dozen at a time right now. If they are always to be in short supply I'm hesitant to put in the time and effort to make parts for a conversion; we'll see what happens with supply.

There are plenty of LED coversion kits on the market and I'll sell a light at cost to anyone who wants to try a conversion and report back.

I have been working on them on and off. All we need is to have the stainless steel strap made, But I keep putting it off because I don't have time to go for a long night ride with the prototype. I'll get it ordered this week and then it'll be 2-3 weeks until shipping time (unless the fabricator is really busy).